Pages

Saturday, March 7, 2015

Better Late than Never - A Birthday Trip

You may remember that Alex celebrated his 30th birthday back in November. Since we have no family and friends nearby, it broke my heart for us not to be able to make a big deal out of the celebration. In an attempt to make it up to him, I planned a weekend getaway to a secret destination after football ended in early December...Hot Springs, Arkansas.

At one point, I planned on heading to see the Christmas lights in Natchitoches, but further research indicated more exciting things to do in Hot Springs. Then I lucked into being offered a free condo (a friend's parents' condo) for the weekend and that pretty much sealed the deal. And let me say...that condo was sweeeeeeet.

We couldn't leave until after work on Friday and it was super foggy, so we arrived pretty late due to the four hour drive. On Saturday morning, we explored downtown Hot Springs, did quite a bit of Christmas shopping, and enjoyed our time exploring together. We also stopped in at the local casino (which is really a horse track, just out of season) for a bit.

One of my favorite things to do when traveling is enjoy eateries that we don't have in Monroe. Being back in Arkansas meant that I wanted to eat everything that reminded me of Little Rock, and then some. For lunch, we ate at the Dixie Cafe, then planned to grab a milkshake at Purple Cow after a faaaabulous Chinese dinner buffet. Unfortunately, we had to scrap our plans for the Christmas lights at Garvan Gardens due to traffic, but that purple peanut butter milkshake made it allllllllllll worthwhile.

And finally, on our way home, I introduced Alex to geocaching as he scored his first-ever cache in the middle of nowhere, just north of the Louisiana state line.

The funny thing about this dog is that he was mentioned in the clues for finding the location. LoL.

I'd say the trip to Hot Springs was well worth our time, and I would absolutely visit again (maybe in warmer weather?). Since making this trip, I read about Stephanie's babymoon trip to Eureka Springs, and she definitely has made me want to visit there. I mean, who could argue with sleeping in a treehouse or a castle?! That drive is nearly twice the distance for us, so not great for a weekend, but maybe a vacation one day...So where is your favorite place to take a weekend trip?

Thanks for the shout out. :) We went to Hot Springs too! Only this was about 1.5 years ago. I wrote about it here: http://blessedtobeblog.blogspot.com/2013/12/hot-springs.html. I wonder if we went to any of the same places! I'm totally craving that purple pb shake now, thank you very much!